CHAPTER 23 – Grace
Moving so many people in such a short space of time was difficult, but not impossible. Three explosions on the opposite side of the compound drew most of Jebediah’s men away. Axel, Charlie, Ethan, and Isaac had taken the barracks easily, only five men had been left to guard the doors during the fight. We were now filling the barracks with people, scared people. They only knew the bare basics of Ink’s plan, so they were all worried about what would happen next, once everyone was locked inside. Ink seemed to think the basement stocked with weapons and NIM supplies would keep Jebediah from burning this place to the ground. I could only hope it was enough.
Standing in the shadows of the barrack’s back door, I watched as Skye shuffled the last group into the building. It had taken us almost three and a half hours to get everyone inside along with the scant supplies we could get out hands on. Flurries of snow drifted around me, falling softly to the ground. The snow would work in our favor, eventually covering the heavy tracks we’d made. Not that it wouldn’t take Jebediah and his men mere seconds to figure out where the people of Liberty were hidden.
Intermittent gunfire made me jump, and I shuffled to the side of the building, glancing around the corner and checking the field in front of the barracks. The bonfire had almost burnt itself out, nothing but smoldering ash left. Max’s body still lay out in the snow, and I tried so hard not to look in that direction. Seeing him abandoned out there made my chest twist tight. I wanted to bring him closer to us. Even in death, he was one of Liberty, and I didn’t want him left alone.
More gunfire made me jump. Ink was out there somewhere, deep in the compound with his men. We’d heard the sporadic sound of weapons on and off for the last three hours. The sharp tapping sound scared the shit out of me, and my heart hammered uncomfortably in my chest. I needed to know if Ink was safe.
Axel had made contact with Henry, and he had confirmed at that time there had been no casualties, and the men were doing their best to draw attention away from the Barracks. They were also getting their hands on a few more weapons they found in one of the storage sheds. When they eventually headed this way, they’d be coming in hard and fast.
My eyes sought out the shadows, my ears straining for any sound, but there was nothing. The sound of gunfire stopping as abruptly as it had begun.
“Hadley’s not good.”
Skye’s voice pulled my attention away from my familiar surroundings. At the mention of Hadley, my sorrow threatened to draw me inwards, away from the despair and hurt. Over the last month, my sanity had been chipped away little by little, my heart slowly dimming until the light that once existed inside was barely but a flicker. A scarcely restrained Fury had carried Hadley into the barracks so gently it brought tears to my eyes. She’d been wrapped in a blanket, and I was positive she’d been naked beneath it. The hopeless resignation in her once beautiful, vibrant eyes confirmed the worst. She’d been hurt like no woman should ever be hurt.
Fury placed her tenderly on a bed and almost robotically stepped away, the dry blood crusted to his face and beard indicating he had his own injuries. However, he didn’t allow anyone to tend to them. I was positive the pain that reflected in his dark eyes wasn’t because of his own pain—it was because Hadley had been hurt. Watching the tick in his jaw and the clenching of his fists as Hadley sobbed into her mother’s shoulder was one of the most difficult things I’d ever witnessed.
Turning abruptly, Fury had stormed away, the few people lingering outside the room parting to make way for his wide body and the violent wrath wafting from him.
“She’ll be okay.”
There was no conviction to my words. I wanted to believe Hadley would be okay, but how could she? They’d taken her as if she were nothing but a possession to be played with, another victim to Jebediah’s cruel games, much like Ink had been. But Ink was okay, he’d survived Jeze’s machinations. He wasn’t broken, so maybe Hadley would be okay too. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but maybe one day.
Smoke lingered in the air, and another gunshot cracked, breaking the silence. Both Skye and I jumped before Skye let out a nervous giggle.
“This shit’s gonna send me gray,” she huffed out, running a hand through her long, dark hair. She cast me a sideways glance. “Speaking of hair, who the hell did you let at you with clippers?” Even though her question was posed with a serious tone, there was amusement in her dark eyes, and she fought a grin.
“You don’t like it?” I asked, tugging my warm beanie down lower.
“Stop fishing for compliments,” she scoffed. “You could grow dreadlocks with bugs living outta them, and you’d still look smokin’ hot.”
I’d never considered myself ‘smoking hot.’ In fact, I’d always thought of myself as plain and simple. Ink saw something else in me though, he told me often enough I was beautiful and from the way his gaze filled with lust and love when he looked at me I knew he wasn’t lying. Even so, I still felt uncomfortable with Skye’s compliment.
“That’s not possible, you know how much I hate bugs.”
Skye snorted, blowing warm air into her hands. “So… you and Ink, huh?”
We hadn’t had a chance to talk about everything that had happened since she’d left, but she’d been quick to pick up on our new-found intimacy.
“You taken that sexy piece of man-meat to your bed yet?” she asked.
“You’re such a pervert,” I murmured with a smile.
“Oh, my ladybits… you totally have.”
Shrugging, I ignored her teasing and the heat that built in my cheeks.
Skye nudged my shoulder with hers. “Don’t be embarrassed, that man is yours. Always has been, just took him a while to figure it out. Typical male, dense as hell.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Despite our current circumstances, Skye still managed to make me laugh.
“Come on, let’s get inside, my nose is freezing.”
“Only your nose?”
“No, smart ass, my ears, lips, fingers, boobs… the whole damn package is freezing. Who would have thought my dark skin could turn blue, but look, I’m this weird looking combination of purple,” she said, pointing to her bluish lips.
Without waiting for me to follow, Skye spun around and quickly made her way inside the building, grumbling about losing fingers and stupid snow. Axel gave me a nod as we passed him by, his gaze lingering on Skye’s retreating back. That man had it bad. Skye seemed completely oblivious, talk about dense.
“I’ll check the perimeter and make my way around front to wait for our boys,” Axel assured me. I was glad someone was watching out for them, it felt like a betrayal to be safe and warm inside the barracks while Ink and his soldiers battled our enemy.
Skye and I wandered through the building, making our way to the wide double doors which opened onto the once idyllic field. The foyer was wide and fashioned into a communal living space. The area was now filled with people, making the room seem much smaller than normal. It made my skin itch, being trapped inside in such a way. My time in the Underworld had left its mark, but my time there had been a heartbeat compared to everyone else. These people had never seen daylight before being freed, and right now the lines of stress were clearly evident in their features. Being jammed into this building was going to be a torture in itself.
“We need to get everyone calm and settled. The last thing we want right now is for people to start freaking out and trying to get back outside.” I thought out loud as Skye and I snaked our way through the room. The corridor beyond was wide and filled with more people trying to find a place to set up with their loved ones.
“Grace, what the fuck is going on?” Trigger’s voice brought me to a halt.
I hadn’t seen nor heard from him in over a week, and Ink had been vague about whatever had happened to cause a rift between them. I felt it had something to do with the trip to meet the NIM dealers, but Ink wouldn’t confirm it one way or another. Turning, I found him shoving his way through the people, carelessly pushing them out of his way. My brow furrowed as I took in his appearance. He’d lost weight, his cheeks gaunt and dark bruises shadowing his eyes. His clothing was creased and filthy, the glazed look to his eyes unfamiliar and almost frightening.
What the hell had happened to him?
When his angry gaze settled over my shoulder, he abruptly stopped his approach. It hadn’t occurred to me that he hadn’t seen Skye since she’d been brought into Liberty unconscious. Right now, his bewildered stare was set on her. Looking back, I found Skye watching him with horror etched into her features. Her eyes were wide open, mouth agape, dark features faded under a pale, sickly look.
“T-T-Trigger,” she stammered, her muscles seeming to snap to life. “You were with them… you…” Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. “You hurt me,” Skye finally hissed.
Confusion reigned as I looked between the two.
Trigger also seemed to pale, his feet shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“What’s going on?” I asked Skye.
Skye didn’t answer. Instead she turned around and took off like the hounds of Hell were on her tail, disappearing at the end of the wide corridor.
What the hell?
With a slow turn of my head, I found Trigger staring after her before that unfamiliar restless gaze found mine. There were no words exchanged as I tried to dig beyond the glaze of those gray eyes and peer into Trigger’s soul.
What had he done?
Before I could ask, Trigger turned and shoved his way back through the crowd and out the front door of the barracks.
“Grace, their coming.” Axel’s voice shouting from the doorway vanquished all thoughts of the mystery that surrounded Trigger, and I slipped through the small crowd to peer out into the darkness, watching the field with unblinking eyes. I heard them before I saw them, heavy panting and the fall of booted feet on the soft powdered snow. The unmistakable figure of Henry was leading the pack, a rifle swung over his shoulder and another in his hand. My heart lurched as someone behind him stumbled, but a swift shoulder taking their weight prevented a fall.
They thundered across the field, the flickering lights of Jebediah’s men dancing in the distance behind them. More gunshots cracked like a whip, and I ducked instinctively. Ethan was on one knee a few feet to my right, his gun aimed on the men in the distance and the familiar loud bang as he caressed the trigger echoing in my ear.
“We need to get these people back, gunshots can take out the windows,” Axel said, dragging me back into the building.
“Shit!” I mumbled, not having thought of that. The blinds inside were closed, but of course, a bullet could penetrate them. “Everyone needs to get back,” I shouted, reaching down to help bushy-browed Randle to his feet. He was nearing on eighty and his large, stooped figure had slowed considerably in the last six months. People pushed on my shoulders trying to get by, raised voices and whispered cries filled the wide room we were in.
“There’s no room back there,” a voice called over the panic I’d started.
“You need to go up, spread out on the floors above, there are too many windows in here, bullets can break through glass.”
That obviously created more hysteria as the twenty or so Liberty civilians who had crowded the space began to force their way into the busy corridor beyond.
“The basement has plenty of room,” Isaac remarked, pointing to a stairwell that would take people down there.
“They were making NIM down there, it might not be safe,” someone reminded me.
“We’ve had the back door open for a few hours now, most of the fumes would have escaped. You’re not safe here. You’ve got a better chance down there.”
Shouting from over my shoulder pulled my attention away from the traffic jam in the corridor, and I watched in horror as Niall shouldered a bleeding Ace to the cold concrete floor. Henry dropped his weapons as he helped Axel prepare the large, steel post that would slip through the doors handles and add further resistance to anyone trying to get through. The people at my back were forgotten as I watched Ink’s soldiers stumble into the brightly lit hospital. Some were injured, covered in soot and blood, others seemed none the worse for wear, and they were all loaded down with weapons.
But one was quite obviously missing.
I waited as each man lurched inside, but still no Ink. My feet began moving forward of their own accord as I watched Arthur, a brand spanking new eighteen-year-old soldier in training swoop between the two doors, his arms laden down with guns. Then there was nothing. Long, drawn-out moments passed and there was still no Ink, only chaos as soldiers spread out around the living area, bleeding and breathless. My feet faltered as I watched in disbelief while Axel and Henry shoved one of the double doors shut.
“No!” And I was moving forward again, pushing Axel aside with enough force to leave a surprised look on his face. “No, no, no…” I pleaded with no one in particular as I stumbled through the doors and out into the freezing night air. I couldn’t lose him, not now I had him. I’d spent so many years trying to get him to see me, to love me as I did him, I couldn’t bear the thought of not having him in my life.
“Gracie? What are you doing?” Ethan snapped, still positioned by the door with his gun butted into his shoulder and his finger on the trigger.
“Get her inside,” Fury’s familiar voice bellowed from the field before me.
The flashing lights and lanterns of our enemy were coming in hard and fast, more bullets shattered the otherwise quiet night. My foot slipped in the worn path of sludge we’d created coming and going, and I would have fallen forward into the icy mud had a hard body not slammed into me, forcing me backward. A pair of strong arms swept me into their embrace and carried me right into the barracks.
“Ink,” I screamed, trying to break free of the hold of whoever had captured me and delivered me safely back into the building. “You can’t leave him out there. I need to go to him. Let me go!” My body struggled, my head filled with images of Ink lying bleeding out in the snow like Max—alone, cold, dead.
“Buttercup, calm the fuck down.”